Archaic Terms in Polish Metrical Records – Part 2

In a previous post, the meaning of the word zawczoraj was defined as “the day before yesterday”. Two related words are also difficult to find in current dictionaries: onegdaj and zaonegdaj.

The Słownik języka polskiego (Dictionary of the Polish language) describes the word onegdaj in this way:

onegdaj «on the day two days preceding today; the day before yesterday»: I was in church with Joasia and her brother Bronek the other day. PIET. Młod. 169. The plague is spreading with lightning speed: the other day 30 people died, yesterday 50, and apparently even more today. ŚWIĘT A. Obraz. II, 165. Our card-collectors (…) having caught me the other day, did not let me go until I was deprived of my last penny. ZABŁ. Firc. 26.
onegdaj in noun usage “the day before yesterday”: We are renters of time, so today is not ours, as they usually say, but yesterday, the day before yesterday, and today are very much conditional. NORWID Słow. 284. // L

The Słownik języka polskiego (Dictionary of the Polish language) describes the word zaonegdaj in this way:

zaonegdaj obsolete «three days ago»: I received your letter dated the 9th of this month three days ago. CHOPIN Wyb. 113. // SWil

Copyright © 2024 by Stephen J. Danko

This entry was posted in Daily Journal. Bookmark the permalink.